Our president loves numbers. Let’s see, $18 trillion dollars (sometimes $22 trillion) in foreign investments in the U.S., and eight global peace deals all accomplished in nine months on the job.
Couple of problems here, however: First, that inflated investment number is just a pledge of sorts by foreign leaders and business executives, and talk — unfortunately — is cheap. And second, the peace deal signed onto by Thailand and Cambodia in August just exploded — literally — as the two sides resumed combat.
Meanwhile, Trump’s much-ballyhooed ninth peace deal involving Ukraine and Russia took a hit in Miami over the weekend, as negotiations between the U.S. and Ukraine over the terms of the deal seemed stuck on territorial concessions and security guarantees.
Interesting it is how the U.S. State Department has now taken up semi-permanent residence in Florida, where its three main players reside, those individuals being Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff. and son-in-law Jared Kushner. The latter two live on billionaires’ row, while Rubio no doubt has a humbler abode, with eyes on the White House in 2028.
Trump’s other major peace accord, the one between Israel and Hamas, is tenuously eyeing its Phase Two as Israeli forces are still rooting out Hamas militants in tunnels and elsewhere. And Hamas is still armed to the teeth and clearly in charge in Gaza.
Anyway, that’s life at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, I guess, when it comes to painting a rosy picture. I remember how the Biden administration claimed that inflation was “transitory” and that our southern border was shut up tighter than a drum.
[PICTURED: Announcement of Thailand-Cambodia peace accord in Kuala Lumpur this past summer]
